CONSIDERING the increasing support it is garnering from young people all over the country, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) is likely to pose rather serious challenge to the Central Government headed by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. For, it is getting clearer that the challenge is no longer social, but also has assumed a political overtone with the support of a few Opposition parties. Another proof of the ever-widening support to the CJP has come from the Ladakh leader Mr. Sonam Wangchuk who is on a fast for a few days. He blasted the Government for police action against CJP and other protesters in New Delhi.

 

The sum and substance of these development is that the Modi Government has to handle the issue with a sense of purpose and focus. As the current term of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi nears the half-way mark, it is only expected that a lot of coordinated political activity will happen on a sustained basis to deprive the Prime Minister of the chances to get elected for the fourth time. The crux of these development will not be whether Mr. Modi gets re-elected or not; it will be about how he and his Government are able to tackle the young challenge. It is clear that it would not be enough for the Government to dismiss the young antagonism as politically-driven. For, when what is proudly described as ‘young dividend’ becomes restive for whatever reasons, then the challenge needs to be addressed in all seriousness.

 

A dismissive response would serve only a negative purpose -- which the Government must refrain from. For, an attempt to keep the young protesters at bay by not talking to them will also irritate them all the more. Of course, it is possible that the young protesters will never agree to sitting together to discuss issues and resolve those sincerely, politically motivated as they are. For, such a response was accrued from the farmers as well some years when the Centre had promulgated three new legislations regarding agriculture and farmers and marketing of farm produce. That time, the Government had accepted to discuss the issue threadbare. There were several rounds of talks -- but without any concrete outcome. For, the farmers were only adamant and unwilling to think critically and come to terms with good and bad of the three proposed laws.

 

The Government felt fully frustrated and withdrew the legislations. For a while, the farmers and their political masterminds did get a sense of dark satisfaction that they busted the proposed laws, but the country stood to lose in the ultimate analysis. The young people’s current agitation must not be allowed to meet such a fate. There are some areas in which the young generations feel frustrated about the situation in the country. No matter the political propaganda by the Government, it is clear that the young generations have their own way of looking at things and those do not match with the Government’s perspective. Some meeting point between differing perspectives will have to be found out so that an undesirable unease in the young generations is taken care of. Of course, it is true that the perspective of the CJP protesters does not match with the perspective of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which also boasts of having garnered the support of countless crores of young people.

 

A serious effort will have to made to weigh pros and cons of the multiple young perspectives the larger Indian society has to put up with -- and emerge with a common idea of how to offer younger people a meaningful life. This would mean a lot of serious work -- which the larger Indian society can only ill-afford to miss doing. The young challenge in the country is not all political. It does have a substantial argument seeking a serious handling of all issues such as employment, of good education, of decent standard of living for all segments of the society. If the young people are not offered a satisfactory response to these issues, there will be a greater trouble for all -- from the restive youth.